Singapore’s Changi Airport is consistently rated in passenger surveys as one of the world’s best – if not the best in the world. When an airport has a reputation like that to uphold, you expect a lot when it opens a brand new passenger terminal – and Changi does not disappoint.

The airport just opened its new Terminal 4, characterized by sweeping, open design; innovative passenger diversions; and a whole bunch of creative dining and retail options. Example: T4’s “Heritage Zone” is a string of retail and dining concessions that all have the facades of traditional Singapore shops; restaurants there serve up regional specialties like kaya toast, mee siam and kopi, and there’s a live chef’s station where Indian prata pancakes are prepared on the spot.

Overall, T4 has 81 concessions, including 62 stores and service establishments and 19 food and beverage options. That includes a big duty-free shopping zone.

The terminal also boasts the latest in passenger processing technology, including a vast self-bag-drop area, speedy security and customs processing, and so on. And what would a new terminal be without visual diversions like innovative art displays and huge LED walls.

Airlines operating out of T4 include Cathay Pacific, Korean Air, Cebu Pacific, Spring Airlines, the four AirAsia Group carriers, and Vietnam Airlines.

This all happened in the wee hours of Tuesday morning as part of a drill. According to the Straits Times, Tuesday’s simulated attack “saw six gunmen and a suicide bomber strike the packed terminal on what was supposed to be a busy Saturday afternoon.”

This simulated attack is part of Exercise Northstar, which Channel News Asia says is “part of ongoing efforts to test a multi-agency response towards possible terrorist attacks in Singapore.”

On June 1, United Airlines will introduce what it says is the longest scheduled Boeing 787 flight in the world.

Measured by distance it will also be the longest scheduled flight by any U.S. carrier, beating out Delta’s Atlanta-Johannesburg nonstop.

It will be longer than United’s current longest flight between Los Angeles and Melbourne, Australia.

At 8,446 miles each way, it will be the longest flight from San Francisco International Airport, swiping that superlative from Etihad’s nonstops to Abu Dhabi.

Where in the world is United flying next?

Between San Francisco and Singapore, nonstop!

About 16 hours each way between SFO and Singapore (TravelMath)

Every day starting June 1, a new United 787-9 Dreamliner (UA1) will take off from SFO at 11:25 p.m. for the 15.5-hour flight to Singapore Changi International Airport, arriving at 6:45 a.m. two days later.

On the return, UA2 will depart Singapore at 8:45 a.m. for the 16-hour, 20-minute flight, arriving at SFO at 9:15 a.m. on the same day.

United’s vice-president, networks Brian Znotins told TravelSkills that United fares on the route would be competitive. When we searched today, we found round trips for mid-June in the $1,200 in economy and $4,600 in business class.

United says that it’s new nonstop flights will save travelers up to four hours travel time in each direction compared to its current one-stop service via Tokyo or Hong Kong as well as competitive flights on Singapore Airlines, which offers one stop flights to Singapore via Hong Kong or Seoul. “It not only saves four hours in travel time, but it cuts the risk of hitting weather-related delays associated with one-stop flights,” said Znotins.

United’s Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner has 252 seats– 204 in economy (including 88 in Economy Plus) and 48 in business class (no first class). See the 787-9 layout on SeatGuru.com. United currently has 14 787-9s, and will have 18 by this summer according to Znotins.

At Singapore Changi, United BusinessFirst customers and Star Alliance Gold members have access to all Star Alliance lounges at Singapore Changi, including the Singapore Airlines business class lounge. (Details here.)

Until now, nonstops between San Francisco and Singapore have been nearly impossible due to the great distance. At one time, Singapore Airlines offered mind-boggling 18-hour nonstops between Newark and Singapore using a Airbus A340, but discontinued them due to the aircraft’s gas guzzling inefficiency. United says that it can make money on this ultra long-haul flight using the 787-9 due to its use of lightweight composites, modern engines and better aerodynamic design.

With the launch of nonstop San Francisco – Singapore, United will stop flying between Singapore and Tokyo/Narita, but it plans to maintain its daily nonstops between Singapore and Hong Kong.

This is the fourth major new long-haul flight that United has announced for SFO this year, which include Xian, China (June), Auckland, New Zealand (July) and Tel Aviv, Israel (March).

The longest nonstops from SFO include: Abu Dhabi on Etihad at 8,144 miles, Dubai on Emirates at 8,092 miles and Delhi on Air India at 7,687 miles. United’s nonstop to Singapore eclipses them all at 8,446 miles.

The first airport page to go up on TripAdvisor is Singapore Changi; the site said it expects to add pages for New York JFK and London Heathrow in July.

“When travelers search for an airport on the site, they will be directed to a dedicated airport page with reviews, ratings, and other information about hotels nearby as well as restaurants and attractions in both public and transit areas. Amenities, including duty-free stores, boutiques, and airport lounges will also be listed on the page,” TripAdvisor said.

The airport pages will include user reviews of the places mentioned. For instance, the Singapore Airport page covers 16 airport hotels, 125 airport restaurants and 122 “things to do” in the airport. It also has a map as well as a fare search function for flights to that airport.

Related: What’s the world’s favorite airport?

TripAdvisor makes money by allowing airport business to advertise on the pages and participate in a GPS-enabled tool called ‘Near Me Now’ to locate amenities and restaurants nearby with their smartphones.

Until now, the only comprehensive airport ratings were the World Airports Awards produced by SkyTrax. Here’s a list of its top 10 airports this year– notably none in the U.S.

World’s top 10 airports according to SkyTrax

What do YOU think is the best airport in the world? Why? Please leave your comments below.

NYC taxis losing the Uber battle. The New York Post reports that ride-finding service Uber has reached a critical milestone in New York City, no doubt the biggest market in the nation for hired cars: There are now more Uber vehicles than licensed taxicabs in the Big Apple. The paper said that Uber now has 14,088 “black and luxury cars” available for hire in New York, vs. 13,587 medallion taxis — although total trips by taxi still vastly outnumber Uber rides. Uber drivers reportedly like the more flexible hours and the higher earnings compared with traditional yellow cabs. Meanwhile, Uber continues to face plenty of legal troubles around the world, most recently in France, Germany and South Korea — including a new ban of its lower-priced car service in Germany. Have your Uber habits shifted over the course of the last six months? Please leave your comments below. And if you can’t comment because you’ve yet to give Uber a try, sign up here and get $20 off your first ride.

Feds eye facial recognition. U.S. Customs and Border Protection has quietly started testing new facial recognition technology on U.S. citizens re-entering the country at Washington’s Dulles International Airport. According to the tech news website Motherboard, the program is intended to help Customs officers catch individuals who may be using a passport that isn’t their own — although some observers question what CBP plans to do with the passenger photos it accumulates. Meanwhile, the American Civil Liberties Union last week sued the Transportation Security Administration, demanding to see documents related to its “Screening Passengers by Observation” (SPOT) project. That’s the program that trains TSA officers to watch for passengers exhibiting suspicious behaviors or appearing stressed or frightened, and subjecting them to extra inspections. The ACLU alleged that separate studies have found there is no evidence that the program works at all; an ACLU attorney said the program “wastes taxpayer money, leads to racial profiling, and should be scrapped.”

Our famous photo of the updated men’s room with a view at Singapore Changi Airport (Photo: Chris McGinnis)

Changi tops airport list — again. For the third year in a row, Singapore’s Changi Airport has ranked as the world’s best in the annual passenger survey conducted by Skytrax. And once again, no U.S. airports managed to make it into the Top 10 Best list. London-based Skytrax is unique in its survey sample size: It claims more than 13 million travelers from 112 countries voted in its annual online poll, which covered 550 airports worldwide. Rounding out the Top 10 after Changi are, in order: Korea’s Incheon, Munich, Hong Kong, Tokyo Haneda, Zurich, Central Japan, London Heathrow, Amsterdam Schiphol and Beijing Capital International. Rated the best North American airport for the fifth consecutive year was Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky. Readers, do you agree? In your experience, what is the world’s best airport?

Looking over the duty-free area at LAX from the terrace of the new Emirates lounge (Photo: Emirates)

Emirates lounge at LAX. Emirates officials have cut the ribbon on a new $6.2 million Emirates Lounge at Los Angeles International Airport. Located in the Tom Bradley International Terminal, it’s open to first and business class passengers as well as Platinum and Gold members of the airline’s Skywards loyalty program. Seating 157, it offers a buffet food service, business center, free Wi-Fi, shower facilities, TV and reading areas and a prayer room.

Parking at Atlanta. Atlanta-area travelers worried about finding a parking space at the busy Hartsfield-Jackson Airport have a new option: online parking reservations. The airport said that for a $5 booking fee, customers can now reserve a space in the domestic Park Ride Reserve lot, which costs $12 a day; or in the international hourly parking deck for $16-$24 a day (the fee varies based on demand; the online rate is a significant discount from the regular $32 a day). Reservations must be made at least 24 hours n advance. The airport’s new parking reservations page is here.

Singapore’s Changi Airport is frequently recognized as the best in the world. On a recent trip to Singapore (on an assignment for my BBC.com Business Trip column, I wanted to find out what all the fuss was about, so I asked its communications team for a tour.

We walked all over the facility– smaller than you might imagine, and not really remarkable architecturally like airports in Seoul or Hong Kong– but it feels very welcoming, comfortable and easy. Come on along for the ride and see why people love this place so much. (Slideshow starts below.)

Some interesting tidbits I picked up during the tour:

>There is an outdoor pool, jacuzzi, patio and tiki bar that anyone can enter for a $14 fee. Nice! (See photos below)

>Airport security screening is done at each gate instead of a central security checkpoint– that means all you have to do is show your passport and ticket to get into the terminals. This decentralized approach eliminates any peak time lines. Smart!

>There’s an outdoor butterfly garden open to all passengers. Talk about peaceful…and beautiful! (See slideshow below)

>The airport has a full time staff of 10 horticulturalists and 100 gardeners and there’s not one fake plant anywhere.

>What we call “moving sidewalks” they call “travelators.” (I like travelator and plan to incorporate that into my lexicon!)

>There is a basic by-the-hour hotel in each of its three terminals. There’s also a 280-room Crowne Plaza hotel in the middle of the airport, which mainly houses travelers on layovers from the “kangaroo route” between the UK and Australia. (However, QANTAS is switching its stopover point on the kangaroo route to Dubai next year.)

>Changi is the name of a local tree– a pleasant, eco-friendly change from other big airports named after politicians.

Bathrooms with runway views are one of many passenger friendly innovations at Singapore’s Changi Airport. (photo: Chris McGinnis)

Singapore’s Changi Airport is frequently recognized as the best in the world. On a recent trip to Singapore, I wanted to find out why, so I asked their communications team for a tour. We walked all over the massive facility, and even took a breezy ride in one of those beeping carts! Come on along for the ride and see why people love this place so much. (Slideshow starts below.)

Some interesting tidbits I picked up along the way:

>There is an outdoor pool, jacuzzi, patio and tiki bar that anyone can enter for a $14 fee. Nice! (See photos below)

>Airport security screening is done at each gate instead of a central security checkpoint– that means all you have to do is show your passport and ticket to get into the terminals. This decentralized approach eliminates any peak time lines. Smart!

>There’s an outdoor butterfly garden open to all passengers. Talk about peaceful…and beautiful!

>The airport has a full time staff of 10 horticulturalists and 100 gardeners and there’s not one fake plant anywhere.

>What we call “moving sidewalks” they call “travelators.” (I like travelator and plan to incorporate that into my lexicon!)

>There is a basic by-the-hour hotel in each of its three terminals. There’s also a 280-room Crowne Plaza hotel in the middle of the airport, which mainly houses travelers on layovers from the “kangaroo route” between the UK and Australia. (However, QANTAS is switching its stopover point on the kangaroo route to Dubai next year.)

>Changi is the name of a local tree– a pleasant, eco-friendly change from other big airports named after politicians.

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Editor Chris McGinnis

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